Motor racing legend dies at 90

British motor racing legend Sir Stirling Moss has died at the age of 90, his wife has confirmed.

Moss was one of the most iconic figures in British sports in the 1950s and 1960s, winning 16 Formula One races and finishing as the runner-up in the Drivers’ Championship on four occasions.

“He died as he lived, looking wonderful,” his widow, Lady Moss, confirmed.

Moss was an accomplished driver across all forms of motorsports, competing in up to 62 races per year and driving 84 different makes of car across the course of his career.

He remained the British Driver with the most F1 Grand Prix wins until 1991, when he was overtaken by Nigel Mansell.

But for his sense of sportsmanship, Moss could have been Britain’s first world champion in 1958 instead of Mike Hawthorn.

He lost the title by a single point that year after asking stewards to reinstate his disqualified compatriot at the Portuguese Grand Prix.

“I felt that it was quite wrong and I went and gave evidence on Mike’s behalf and said no way should he be disqualified,” Moss, who won four races that year to Hawthorn’s one, told Reuters in an interview at his home in 2009.

“They obviously gave him his points back and that took the title from me.”

He was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1961, the year of his forced retirement after a crash which left him in a coma.

In his later life, he suffered from health problems and spent 134 days in hospital in 2016 after suffering a chest infection in Singapore in 2016.

Leave a Reply